Three dog training

Well, Tangle is getting to the age where he gets to take part in the daily ritual of training. I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time. I had developed a nice routine with the 'black and whites' and now I need a new routine!

This morning I jogged over to the agility field. The job actually starts our training for the morning. All three dogs were on their best behavior since yesterday they all got sent home (during the job) for not listening. Believe me, the older two knew EXACTLY what was going on.

First thing I learned, Tangle can't be in the middle while jogging. Has nothing to do with size or age and everything to do with the fact that he is a brat! He runs along holding on to Split's ear. Split is too kind to do anything about it.

I started this morning's drills with jump grids, Tangle in a kennel, Split on the table and Tip got to go first. I am maintaining the jump grids that I pounded so hard in August to get Tip's rear stronger. Tip did an excellent job, so much so, I raised the bars to 22" for her. She did great.

Next was Split. Split really does hate jump grids and it is hard to make them exciting. Can't really use a toy since he will solely focus on the toy and not the job. He stuck with me today and was a happy camper through the drills. He always does a great job because he is a powerful pup and he wants to please.

(Split and Tip's stay on the table while the other is working is getting better too)

Next we worked on jump skills and the broad jump. Probably inspired by Mary-Ellen Barry's article in Clean Run and that I got to use my new broad jumps.

Both dogs did great, although in the beginning they wanted to cut the corners. Didn't take much to convince them that was not going to work for me. The red and pink paths were the hardest, you have to have your timing down well when you cue them to 'switch'. I decided that turning on the flat before the jump was the best course of action.

Tangle's training this morning was continued work on Mary Ellen Barry's method of proofing contact end behavior on the flat. I am using this for startlines and a good understanding of releases. We started with rear crosses on this exercise today.

Next we worked on increasing speed when driving to 'dead' toys. He was doing much better today then two days ago. Probably helped that we went nuts in the living room last night doing this :)

Then we worked on our recalls to heal on the flat. He really has not had any problems understanding any of the recalls. We are just trying to perfect the heal position from all of these positions.